We've been Googled! — Disclaimer: The contents in this post may pertain to the author's personal interests. — They say “All good things come in threes” - well, the year 2008 was the living proof of that phrase for me. Firstly, Sara and I had our first baby son, Issac, who is our biggest blessing.

Yahoo gives a taste of its ‘open’ overhaul — SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Yahoo showed its vision for what its Yahoo Open Strategy makes possible, demonstrating how it hopes to engage users more by enabling its existing sites to grow beyond their current confines. — Ash Patel, head …

Yahoo Open: Finally, a real answer to Google — SUNNYVALE, Calif.—On Friday, 300 programmers will descend upon Sunnyvale, Calif., to plant the seeds of what Yahoo hopes will be an answer to Google's Internet might. — The event is called Open Hack Day 2008, and at it the coders …

Apple rolls back problem driver in new iTunes 8 update — Apple has responded quickly to reports that its initial release of iTunes 8 caused STOP errors (AKA the Blue Screen of Death) on some Windows machines. — The issue is documented in support article TS2280, “iTunes 8 …

Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld Commercial #2: I Remain Confused — I'm starting to feel bad for Microsoft PR, who've been tasked with defending these Microsoft ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. I just didn't connect with the first ad, which barely mentioned Microsoft and didn't do much to tell …

AMAZON HIRES AD EXEC FROM M'SOFT — Amazon has tapped a senior Microsoft exec to head its national ad sales in a sign that the company is ramping up its online ad business. — Lisa Utzschneider, who worked at Microsoft for 10 years, will become senior vice president of national ad sales for Amazon …

Google Adds Location To Mobile Web Search — Last November, Google introduced its My Location feature in Google Maps for Mobile. It uses cell tower IDs to triangulate the location of the phone and then identifies that location on the Google Maps interface.

Zune's Recommendations Make Genius Look Average — Microsoft showed us a sneak preview of the Zune 3.0 software it plans to release on Sept. 16 with the latest generation of Zune devices, and what we saw made iTunes' simple Genius feature look like a blast from digital music's past.